I recently got a call from a female sales professional. She had been working for her sales manager for 7 weeks. I had a meeting scheduled with her male sales manager. She was calling to reschedule the appointment for him. Why was she calling when my appointment was with her manager? Her manager asked her to. It seemed odd to me that she was asked to do this. I thought it was … [Read more...]
Be strategic when you sell with Thumbtack
One of the things you want to do is to be more strategic if you are in sales. Look for tools and apps that will leverage your work to acquire other new business. You want prospects to easily find you. It's almost like you get to have someone working for you while you sleep. Here's a wonderful site, Thumbtack that you can use to help prospects find you. I use it to help … [Read more...]
Keeping Information from Your Customers Hurts Sales
Do you keep information from your customers? I hate to pile on the post office, but they really hurt their sales efforts. I recently needed to purchase a certified letter for a business document I was mailing. I made the purchase at 10AM. I was instructed to go to the U.S. Postal Service website, usps.com, enter my tracking number and I would be able to see the letter’s … [Read more...]
Women in Sales: Be careful.
Women in sales, have you heard about the hubbub going on at GitHub? It seems that engineer Julie Ann Horvath left the company because of allegations about gender-based harassment. There is a lot in the media to show that some unusual things did happen. In fact, the company president and co-founder, Tom Preston-Werner, stepped down. He was criticized that he had mishandled … [Read more...]
Mentors & Selling Strategy: March 2014
The Selling Quote for the Month “To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” -Chinese Proverb For Salespeople... It’s time to for salespeople to get lazy. How? You follow this proverb. The next time you have to develop a sales strategy why not talk with someone who has already experienced your situation or one similar? You don’t have to spend countless hours … [Read more...]
Value Selling Beats Price Every Day
If you sell on price you will lose business on price. Selling price is a bad way to sell. Instead, you should be selling on value. But, how do you do that? Here are the words to use when you sell based on value. And remember, one of the mistakes too many salespeople make is when they quote price early in their sales process. If that's you, you'll find that you're not very … [Read more...]
Time Management & Sales Strategy: Selling Newsletter January 2014
The Selling Newsletter for Sales Professionals January 2014 Sales Quote "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." - -Carl Sandburg, poet For Salespeople... Carl certainly knew a thing or two about sales. Especially now that the year is new, … [Read more...]
So what are you thankful for?
I'm getting ready to celebrate National Salesperson's Day on December 6. (You will be, too. Right?) More on that in December. Meanwhile, which of your customers are you saying thanks to? I'll bet that when you say thank you to a client you get back even more. I see too little appreciation being given in business. Maybe it's because some people don't know how to say thank … [Read more...]
Can Jack Welch help you sell?
Did you see the column in the Wall Street Journal that Jack Welch wrote to defend his famous GE forced ranking program? It’s also known as rank and yank. Welch makes a compelling argument for rank and yank. When executed successfully, employees know well in advance of a review how they are perceived in the organization. Welch consistently asks his audiences, “How many of … [Read more...]
Is Your Competition Beating You in Selling?
Don’t compare yourself to others. Have you ever heard that advice? Well, it’s wrong. In sales you do want to compare yourself to others. That is if you want to get better. So look around at the best salespeople. What are they doing better than you are? I recently met with a successful insurance professional. He said he noticed that the best in his industry were speaking to … [Read more...]